This delicate Jacobean style building on the old Northampton to Peterborough line is a gem of a station, with its picturesque roof line and plentiful finials.

It was designed by JW Livock , a prolific designer of railway stations of which Wansford has been described as ‘the most perfect of all’. It closed in 1957 and has been deteriorating since the 60s.

It is now owned, but not used, by the neighbouring haulage yard but what makes its plight galling is that the platform is still in use as part of a successful heritage railway. What’s more, the Nene Valley Railway would like to buy the station and restore it to be used by passengers and the local community, but so far the owners haven’t been persuaded to sell. The dry rot, collapsed floors and serious cracks in the façade will only worsen is a solution is not found.

‘The owners need to undertake urgent repairs to the station to reverse years of decay, or be persuaded to sell, so that the station can be given a new lease of life’, said Dr Ian Dungavell, Director of the The Victorian Society. ‘So many historic buildings suffer from the lack of an obvious use, but here the role is clear.

The Nene Valley Railway is currently running a campaign to raise the money needed to buy the station and use it to house a railway heritage centre.

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A former flax mill designed to look like an ancient Egyptian temple has been included on the The Victorian Society’s list of the ten most threatened buildings in England and Wales.

Temple Mill on Marshall Street is listed at Grade I, putting it in the top 2.5% of all listed buildings in the country, yet its structure is now seriously at risk following years of neglect.

Built to house part of John Marshall’s 19th Century flax empire and inspired by the ancient Egyptian Temple at Edfu, Temple Mill is now a notable Leeds landmark.

The architect, Joseph Bonomi, was an Egyptologist and used his detailed knowledge of ancient temples to influence the mill’s design, which includes beautiful lotus columns, snake motifs and hieroglyphs. When it was completed in 1843 its vast single-story weaving shed was described as the single largest room in the world.

‘The weaving shed is still an astonishing space, stretching over two acres and lit from above by sixty-five conical glass domes. But its vaulted ceiling needs repairs and three years ago one of the mill’s exterior pillars collapsed’, said Dr Ian Dungavell, Director of the The Victorian Society. ‘Parts of the building are in use by a cultural events company but a clear plan is needed for the whole site in order to secure its future’.

The Society has also uncovered evidence that the much quoted story of sheep grazing on the grass covered roof of the mill is in fact true, and the turf was laid as part of complex and innovative system of environmental control.

Temple Mill is privately owned but has suffered from years of neglect, which led in 2008 to the collapse of one of the exterior pillars.

Dr Dungavell added: ‘The pioneering design and the striking appearance of Temple Mill must be preserved.’

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The Old Rectory is an immensely picturesque house and one of William White’s most important works.

Built on the original foundations of an earlier moated parsonage it was designed as the seat of the new Cornish bishopric. In the event Cornwall’s new cathedral was built in Truro and the parish priest of St Columb was left with rather a grand rectory.

White meticulously designed every detail of the house, right down to the catches for the windows and doors. Incredibly most of these original features still survive, but for how much longer? Holes in the roof mean water is penetrating through all floors, soaking the walls and causing ceilings to collapse. Another winter without repairs could prove disastrous for the structure of the building, not to mention the original paint schemes, the staircases, fireplaces and other features.

The absentee owner has applied to put a glass roof over the courtyard in a scheme opposed by the The Victorian Society for being damaging and visually intrusive. What this house needs is urgent repair works.

‘This is an architecturally important house which has been allowed to fall into a terrible state of disrepair’, said Dr Ian Dungavell, Director of the The Victorian Society. ‘The owner must be persuaded to properly secure the building, or sell up. Future generations won’t forgive us for leaving our heritage to deteriorate beyond repair.’

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The Victorian Society has fought hard to keep Bradford’s unique and extraordinarily intact Edwardian swimming pool open to the public, but in July Bradford Council closed Manningham Baths, and two months later drained the water from the pool.

‘Nowhere else in the country could you until recently swim in a pool so close to the appearance of an ‘ordinary’ pool of the turn of the last century. This truly remarkable survival should be used and celebrated by swimmers in Bradford, not left to rot.’

Although not as grand as some listed swimming pools, what stands out at Manningham Pool is its extraordinarily intact state. The building has its original changing cubicles and the pool itself still has ceramic spittoons at regular intervals and a so-called scum channel down each side. The decision to close Manningham Pool was taken without any thought as to what would happen to this valuable listed building and the The Victorian Society would like Bradford Council to rethink its short term decision.

Pool buildings are notoriously hard to find new uses for and the longer Manningham Pool lies empty the harder it will be to save. In the few months since it closed it has already been broken into three times.

‘This rare survivor from 1904 deserves better’, said Dr Dungavell.

The Victorian Society is now supporting a plan to upgrade the pool’s listed status from Grade II to Grade II*

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The striking building is an early work by one of Wales’ most important architects, Sir Percy Thomas, who was also responsible for the Bute building in Cathays and the Guildhall in Swansea.

The YMCA’s distinctive four-storey terracotta façade has been part of the Merthyr skyline since 1911, but now this landmark building is in an appalling condition:
water is running in through the badly eroded roof and its impressive red brick and yellow terracotta façade is crumbling.

Last year the Heritage Lottery Fund awarded the Portmorlais district £1.68 for regeneration. The YMCA building’s decline was mentioned specifically with the money to go towards improving conditions, and finding new uses for this and other historic buildings. So some money is available, but the building desperately needs a new saviour, or the opportunity will be lost.

‘It has survived two applications for demolition by previous owners and is once again up for sale. It now desperately needs to find a new owner who recognises its potential for reuse, before its condition worsens’, said Dr Ian Dungavell, Director of the The Victorian Society.

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(1904, W.J.Hale, Grade II)

W.J. Hale built only a handful of schools for the Sheffield School Board, but this is considered to be not only his best school, but arguably the best of all his buildings. Sadly it is now in an appalling state, made worse by the fact that for many years it was not protected by any form of fencing and was at the mercy of vandals – it has now been fenced off from the street. The building is owned by an educational charity called the Madni Trust but it is not clear what plans the trust has for the building which has now been empty for well over a decade. This attractive honey-coloured Arts and Crafts style school with its baroque touches is too good to lose.

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The former Crumpsall and Cheetham District Library stopped lending books back in 1974, after which it was used as a community centre. It is now fenced in and boarded up, with water seeping in through the roof.

‘This wonderful Edwardian Baroque library should be a focal point for Cheetham. But instead of attracting a community use its visible neglect only draws in thieves, vandals and even arsonists. In the short term it desperately needs to be made secure and watertight’, said Dr Ian Dungavell, Director of the The Victorian Society.

It was designed by the City Architect, Henry Price and is composed of two symmetrical wings carrying four cartouches inscribed with the names of Scott, Milton, Shakespeare and Dickens. Inside the walls are peeling and pigeons have left their destructive mark, though many original features still remain, albeit in a bad state.

The former library is now privately owned and the Council has requested that a full structural survey is carried out. This building sits at the heart of the community and is crying out for a new use.

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The Bletchley Cricket Pavilion was built in the 1890s as part of the expansion of the Bletchley Park Estate commissioned by the wealthy financier, Herbert Leon. It was sold by the estate before the Second World War and was later used by Bletchley Grammar School, which in turn sold off the pavilion but kept the cricket pitch.

Now this attractive bungalow-style pavilion has no proper context; it is cut off from its former cricket green by a large hedge and hemmed in by trees to the rear. The trees and hedges also help to conceal vandals and thieves who have stolen bricks and timber, leaving the building extremely fragile.

‘It is in an extremely dilapidated state and the owners need to undertake urgent repairs before it is too late’, said Dr Ian Dungavell, Director of the The Victorian Society.

The building is in the process of being sold; the Society believes it desperately needs a new owner who is prepared to incorporate the pavilion into any new development.

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Picture shows the Female Airing Court in 1910

Broadmoor Hospital in Crowthorne is at risk because of an ambitious and damaging plan to demolish part of the original hospital, convert the remaining blocks into a boutique hotel and build more than a hundred homes in the hospital’s vast kitchen garden.

All these homes and hotel rooms would be just a few hundred metres away from a new high security psychiatric unit.

The Grade II-listed Broadmoor was built in the early 1860s as the country’s first asylum for the criminally insane. Although often erroneously described as a prison, it is a hospital and its original design reflected a humane attitude to mental health.

Its buildings are now considered unfit for purpose and the NHS has submitted plans for a £250m redevelopment of the site. Under the proposals the original female wing and a block called Essex House will be demolished.

‘We are concerned about the loss of historic buildings and that demolition will effectively write the presence of women out of Broadmoor’s history and we are worried about the damaging effect of building so many new homes in this listed landscape’, said Dr Ian Dungavell, Director of the The Victorian Society. ‘But most of all we fear that this development jeopardises the future of Broadmoor’s unique and well-preserved historic buildings’.

‘The hospital claims it is protecting the listed buildings by building on woodland on the edge of the site, but how easy is it going to be to find a long term use for Broadmoor’s buildings when they are situated so close to a high-security psychiatric institution?’

The plan is for a boutique hotel to take over the former hospital, but if that plan proves unviable there is a considerable risk that the buildings will remain empty and vulnerable.

Dr Dungavell added: ‘Many of the buildings on our Top Ten list have suffered years of neglect, but Broadmoor is still in good condition and remarkably intact. It is vital that short-term decisions don’t compromise its future.’

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The Grade II-listed Ancoats Dispensary on Old Mill Street was built in 1891 to treat patients who did not qualify for the poor law hospitals but who could not afford medical bills.

It is the only remaining building from Manchester’s nineteenth century Ancoats Hospital, and is an impressive survivor in an area that has lost most of its historic buildings. It finally closed in 1996 and after years of neglect it appeared to have a saviour in the form of developer Urban Splash, a company credited with numerous successful regeneration schemes.

But earlier this year Urban Splash applied for Listed Building Consent to demolish the Dispensary, citing the withdrawal of a grant which would have funded repairs to the shell of the building as one of the reasons no solution could be found. The Victorian Society has urged Manchester City Council to refuse consent for demolition, arguing that the developer’s justification is flawed as it is limited to today’s poor economic outlook.

‘The Dispensary needs investment to be made safe and watertight until a new, long-term use can be found’, said Dr Ian Dungavell, Director of the The Victorian Society. ‘There isn’t sufficient justification for demolishing this important Grade II-listed building and it must be given another chance. The Dispensary is not beyond repair and future generations won’t forgive us for allowing buildings like this to be lost due to short term economic concerns.’

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